Gender

1
Gender

• In this presentation, we will look at two very
  important concepts in Spanish gender and
  agreement.

2
Gender

• Look at these English words and guess whether
  they refer to male or female
• Bull
• Hen
• Husband
• Niece
• Cousin
• Calculator
• Love

3
Gender

• Some are obvious
• Bull (m.)
• Hen (f.)
• Husband (m.)
• Niece (f.)
• Others are unknown
• Cousin (m. or f.)
• While others are neither (neuter)
• Calculator, love

4
Gender

• In English, nouns and pronouns fall into three
  grammatical groups
• Masculine man, husband, rooster, he
• Feminine woman, wife, hen, she
• Neuter child, bird, it

5
Gender

• In Spanish, all nouns fall into just two
  categories
• Masculine (masculino)
• Feminine (feminino)
• There is no neuter class in which to place
  nouns such as table and chair.

6
So what does this mean?

• You should start thinking about Spanish nouns as
  being either masculine or feminine.

7
Lets take a look!

• Here are some nouns with their corresponding
  definite article (the)
• el niño (the boy)
• la niña (the girl)
• el profesor (the professor)
• la profesora (the professor)
• el amigo (the friend)
• la amiga (the friend)

8
Lets reorganize these words.

• Put all of the el words together
• el niño
• el profesor
• el amigo
• And all the la words together
• la niña
• la profesora
• la amiga

9
Thats easy!

• Masculine nouns use the definite article el
  while feminine nouns use la.
• Lets look at a few more
• La mesa (the table)
• El libro (the book)
• La pluma (the pen)
• El teléfono (the phone)

10
Just a minute!!

• Words that are neuter in English are either
  masculine or feminine in Spanish.
• This does not mean that these words have
  masculine or feminine characteristics! It is
  just a purely grammatical classification.

11
Lets practice!

• Do you think these nouns are masculine (el) or
  feminine (la)? Dont worry about the meanings
  for now.
• ___ hermano
• ___ mamá
• ___ trabajo
• ___ historia
• ___ planta
• ___ taco

12
How did you do?

• el hermano
• la mamá
• el trabajo
• la historia
• la planta
• el taco
• Generally speaking, nouns that end in o are
  masculine, while those that end in a are
  feminine. There are exceptions, but we will
  worry about them on a case-by-case basis.

13
Here are some different ones

• la ciudad
• la universidad
• la religión
• la división
• el actor
• el doctor
• el español
• el túnel

14
Do you see the pattern?

• Not all Spanish nouns end in o and a, but they
  still must be either masculine or feminine.
• Nouns that end in ión are usually feminine.
• Nouns that end in dad are always feminine.
• Nouns that end in l and r are usually masculine.

15
What about?

• Nouns that end in e can be either masculine or
  feminine
• la clase el presidente
• Some nouns can be both, depending on the meaning
• el presidente (a man)
• la presidente (a woman)

16
Whats the bottom line?

• Learn every Spanish noun with its article. It
  will pay off soon, because you will be able to
  classify new nouns as you see the patterns
  develop.

17
Agreement

• Look at these sentences (alto tall guapo
  good-looking)
• El niño es alto y guapo.
• La niña es alta y guapa.
• Words that describe niño also end in o alto,
  guapo
• Words that describe niña also end in a alta,
  guapa

18
Whats going on here?

• Other words in the sentence also change to
  agree (match the form of the noun they
  describe). Heres another one
• El profesor es bajo, anciano, y gordo.
• How would you change this sentence to talk about
  a woman professor?

19
Agreement

• La profesora es baja, anciana, y gorda.
• What if there is more than one male teacher?

20
Agreement

• Los profesores son bajos, ancianos, y gordos.
• What is happening??
• Los gt the plural
• Profesores gt plural
• Son gt are
• Bajos, ancianos, gordos gt adjectives match the
  ending of the nouns, too.
• This doesnt happen in English (except for
  this/these and that/those). But its an
  important feature in Spanish!

21
Lets try one!

• Put the correct ending on each word.
• La chica es bonit__ y delgad__.
• Mi auto es antigu__ y fe__.

22
The envelope, please!

• La chica es bonita y delgada.
• Mi auto es antiguo y feo.
• Now make these sentences plural!

23
Your final answer

• Las chicas son bonitas y delgadas.
• Mis autos son antiguos y feos.
• How about this sentence in the plural?
• El estudiante es inteligente y trabajador.

24
How did you do?

• Los estudiantes son inteligentes y trabajadores.
• Adjectives that end in e can be used with either
  masculine or feminine nouns. To make them
  plural, just add s.
• Adjectives that end in r add es for plural.

25
Thats enough for now!

• This is a very tricky concept for learners of
  Spanish, mainly because it is so different from
  English.
• However, it is extremely important and requires a
  lot of concentration on your part! Keep your
  eyes and ears open for gender and agreement, and
  soon the patterns will become clearer.